Jitu Brown holds petitions with signatures of 3,000 Bronzeville residents supporting the “Dyett Global Leadersip and Green Technology” proposal for Dyett High Schoolafter he and other hunger strikers, on 19th day of strike, vowed to continue the strike.

-Owen Lawson III

BY ALLISON MATYUS
Staff Writer

A decision for Dyett has been made, but for the twelve hunger strikers, the fight isn’t over.

On the 19th day of the hunger strike, a day after CPS announced that Dyett will be an arts-based open enrollment school, the hunger strikers held a press conference on the front lawn of the school they have been fighting for.

“There was no negotiation with the coalition. In fact, we were locked out of the press conference yesterday,” said striker Jitu Brown. “Forest Claypool called me 15 minutes before the press conference saying there will be no negotiation.”

Not one of the three submitted proposals were selected as the final decision for Dyett, but instead, a new proposal that describes an arts-based open enrollment neighborhood school with a technology lab in partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

As the hunger strikers have been saying all along, they will continue their strike so long as their proposal for a Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology is ignored.

The hunger strikers named a few demands that still need to be met, including: green technology in the school name title with an emphasis on green technology, a principal selected by the community and no fewer than six people from the coalition on the design team.

The hunger strikers said they believe Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has supported them along the way, will help them get their demands met.

The Dyett 12, as they have come to be known, sat in chairs with their arms linked at the press conference, determined to win their fight.